High-accuracy optical vector analyzer based on optical double-sideband suppressed carrier modulation and Pound Drever Hall technique

Abstract

We report an optical vector network analysis (OVNA) based on optical suppressed carrier double-sideband (DSB) modulation and the Pound Drever Hall (PDH) technique. In this novel scheme, the optical carrier suppressed DSB modulation signal propagates through the high Q optical device, and then the double frequency of the driven radio frequency signal is detected, by which the frequency responses of the device can be accurately achieved. Comparing with the common DSB-based OVNA, by biasing the modulator at the minimum transmission point (MITP), the accuracy improvement can be realized since the errors caused by the even-order sidebands are eliminated. Moreover, the high stability of the proposed OVNA can also be achieved by using the PDH technique. In the proof-of-concept experiment, the magnitude and phase responses of the Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometer are realized with high accuracy when the modulation index is small. There is no repeated frequency response even if the test time is up to 30 minutes. The proposed scheme provides a novel strategy for high-accuracy frequency responses measurement, which can be potentially used in high Q optical devices characterization.